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P&Z hearing draws big crowd |
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Wednesday, 18 November 2009 |
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By LESLIE MIELKE
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BLACKFOOT — The hearing on the 13th Draft of the Proposed Code Revisions of Planning and Zoning (P&Z) brought in a crowd Tuesday night. As one witness said, “I thought this was karaoke night.” Approximately 300 people filled the seats and lined the walls of Bingham County Courtroom #1.  (The Morning News — Leslie Mielke) Close to 300 people filled Courtroom #1 on Tuesday to give testimony to the county commissioners regarding the 13th draft of the planning and zoning proposed code revisions.
“If [Draft 13] is a lemon, it’s a lemon,” Goodworth said. “A new ordinance is needed; start over again.”
Witness Daren Jensen said he used a computer program to merge and compare the present P&Z ordinances and the proposed code revisions. The ink is black if it’s the same, green or red with added text and red with strikeouts if the text is deleted, he said.
“There’s a lot of red and a little black in this merged document,” he said.
The commissioners have stated the working ordinance and the 13th draft of the proposed ordinance are 90 percent the same. The zoning administrator has said the proposed ordinance is 98 percent similar to present working code.
“The administrator’s authority should not increase,” Jensen said. “There’s too much power given to this position.
“One more level of government is called bureaucracy,” Jensen said.
The administrator’s power as defined in the Draft 13 was brought up by more than one witness.
Former zoning administrator Arlin Wareng told the commissioners that “if you give authority to your administrator, then you’ve really got a problem.”
“Zoning touches real close; what we do to our property influences our neighbor,” Wareing said. “I suggest you start again; go back to the original and start again.”
Francis Jensen from Shelley said authority is the P&Z commission’s responsibility. Jensen then outlined pages in the proposed draft that were to be enforced by the planning administrator. “Page 98, land use and page 15, code enforcement are to be enforced by the administrator,” he said. “Page 76 outlines people who can be deputized by the administrator.
“Page 16 states the fines if a person does not comply and page 17 states the county may file a lien upon any real property owned by a convicted individual or entity to recover mitigation costs,” Jensen said. “You work for us; you are not to put undue burdens on us.”
Witness Justin Oleson from Bingham Coop said the required set-backs “would stifle our business.”
“Our operation is frozen in time,” Oleson said, “so don’t eliminate business in our county.”
Oleson pointed out the zoning definitions on page 98 regarding land use that creates odor, noise, vibration, light trespass, dust or other objectionable conditions. . .as determined by the administrator.
“Who makes that diecision?” he asked. This draft makes the administrator the referee or the judge.
David Johnson also spoke on behalf of Bingham Coop. With all the set-backs in this proposed draft, “our business would be able to use only 6.67 acres of our property.
“It’s detrimental to business,” Johnson said.
Witnesses also brought up other issues. Peggy Stolworthy said that Power County and Bonneville County are going ahead with commercial wind turbines. “Bingham County is losing the taxes that could benefit roads and other county needs.”
The star of the evening was Aarca Smith from Shelley. “I grew up in the Netherlands and lived there until I was 22 years old,” she said. “I came to a free country where people ruled to a certain extent.
“As soon as I could, I became an American citizen,” Smith said.
“Let me tell you about the Netherlands,” she said. “In the Netherlands, a person may own his/her own home but the government owns the land; we rent from the government.
“We need to ask permission from the government to sell our homes,” she said.
“In the Netherlands, if we hire a babysitter or hire someone to mow our lawn or paint a room, that makes me an employer. I need to get permission to hire an employee and I must pay more taxes.
“Every year other laws are added to it,” Smith added. “You have no say."
“I am now 82 years old,” she said.
“Listen to the people,” Smith told the commissioners. “Do what they say and we’ll all be happier.”
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 19 November 2009 )
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